Studio 5000 Logix Designer Version 29 Released

Version 29 of Studio 5000 Logix Designer software, required to program Rockwell's new 5380 and 5580 series of programmable automation controllers, is now available to download for those with a current support contract.

What's new in Studio 5000 version 29?

NOTE: You can learn the details about the 5580 HERE and the 5380 HERE.

Controller Message to Self Additions:

Added in this release of Logix Designer, you are now able to send a message to the controller itself to disable the built-in LCD display, webpage, and Ethernet address.

Dual configurable Ethernet ports:

A long time requested feature for the 5370, users can now chose to set each Ethernet/IP port on CompactLogix 5380 controllers to have unique addressees. Prior to v29's support for this “Dual-IP mode,” users only had the same Linear/DLR mode option the 5370 has.

Support for PanelView 5000 HMI Button Control:

The 5580 and 5380 controllers now support a new “HMIBC” instruction which allows for high speed interaction with the PanelView 5000 line of HMI's, greatly improving button response in high speed operations like jogging a motor.

Added support for instruction based alarms:

You are now able to use the ALMA and ALMD alarm instructions with the 5580 and 5380 controllers.

Added support for string literals:

You can now set a string tag to a literal text string in the RLL, ST, and SFC languages when using a 5×80 controller.

Updated Controller Properties:

The memory tab in controller properties has been renamed “Capacity” and now also shows the number of used and remaining nodes, along with more accurate memory estimations.

How about Windows 10 support?

The only mention I could find about Windows 10 support was that Studio 5000 may fail to launch on Windows 10 systems.

Sigh. Same thing they said with v28.

For more information

For all the details about version 29, search Rockwell's “versions” webpage for Studio 5000 Logix Designer, and then select the PDF icon under version 29.xx.xx (below you can see the link for the v27 release notes:)

So, what do you think of version 29?

Unhappy about the lack of Win 10 support, or the fact that the 5×70 line seems to have been forgotten?

If you have an opinion, feel free to share it with us using the “post a comment or question” link below.

As far as I'm concerned, since I've yet to find the right person at Rockwell to get a 5×80 donated to the blog, unless I win the lottery I won't have a chance to try out any of these new features any time soon.

Editors Note: I would like to thank Jeff who was the first to let us know that v29 was released.

Follow-up to myself: I jumped the gun. v3.80 not working either now. Cleared harmony files several times. Linx appears to work if I open it and browse. I see the CLX chassis and all the processors. As soon as I open Logix and try to go online it stops working. I can see the EN2T modules, but they appear as yellow question marks. All of my EDS files are installed which makes this pretty frustrating.

Of course, I find this problem when a customer calls and wants help. Will be calling Rockwell tomorrow.

I’ve got the problem that when making a change, after aprox 30 seconds Logix Designer shuts down (whether you saved your change or not). Restarting Logix Designer is possible and when saved you will have the new situation, when not saved you don’t have your change.
I don’t have this issue in eg V24.